**Disclaimer** Gundam is copyrighted by the Bandai Co. and what I write here can't be... same old junk. Now here is something to think about, how about making this junk into a beautiful sculpture? Maybe, a house? The ideas are endless, though this disclaimer isn't.

Chapter 8- Training Blues and Blacks

"This is Preventor Lumin, your team leader."

Toki sat flabbergasted as Preventor Lumin stepped into the room. His mouth was open, but nothing came out.

Alex on the other hand wasn't shocked, as much, because he knew Preventor Lumin. Though he had to admit, he didn't expect this person to be the team leader.

'Hilde?'

Hilde Schbeiker stood just inside the room with an oil soaked rag in hand, which wrapped up a wrench. She wore an oil-stained, light blue maintenance suit with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow. Her arms had fresh oil streaks on them, and she had some smudged oil on her chin.

"Looks like I made an impression on them already." Hilde had a slight smile on her face, and shook her head as she saw them in stares.

Alex shook his head to snap himself out of his stare, and saw Toki with a stare of his own. He leaned over and did a light shove to stop his stare.

Toki looked at Alex. "Don't tell me I was staring."

"Yep, you were." Alex turned his head from Toki.

"So, were you Alex." Hilde added as she walked up to the table and sat down.

"Sorry, Miss Schbeiker. I apologize." Toki clapped his hands together in a sign of forgiveness.

"It's ok. Call me Lumin while on duty, though."

"Alright, Lumin."

"As for you Snow..." Hilde cocked her head toward Alex.

Alex had his arms behind his head and stretched out his legs under the table. "If you want to know, it was a stare of disbelief."

"Sure it was..." Hilde shook her head. "I was going to say; it's good to see that you're out of your coma."

"Thank you." Alex turned his chair to face Lady Une. "Colonel. May I ask, how long has 'Lumin' been in the Preventors?"

"I've been in the corps for three months. You should've asked me." Hilde said as she was pissed off at Alex for trying to override her.

"You're right. I'll ask you next time." Alex said in a sarcastic tone, while he was pissed off at what Hilde had said earlier, and didn't even make eye contact with her.

Hilde was about to say something when Toki interfered. "Hold on you two. If you are going to argue, do it after this meeting. I kind of want to get a shower in sometime today." Hilde and Alex looked at him. "Please?"

"Ok." "Sure."

The three of them turned their attention to Lady Une, who wasn't angry, but wasn't exactly happy at the same time. She glanced at both Alex and Hilde, and shook her head in disapproval. Lady Une cleared her throat and began to speak.

"The reason for this meeting is to brief the two newer members about what this team will do. Lumin and Snow already are affiliated with each other."

Toki took a quick look at Alex and Hilde with his eyes opened a little bit. 'That might explain a few things.' The gray-haired technician looked back at Lady Une.

"Lumin this is Toki Watari." Lady Une gestured toward Toki. "He will be your technician on your team."

"Wait... I'm not certified."

"You'll be once you've gotten the training done."

"What training??" Toki stared at Lady Une in disbelief.

"You'll see." Hilde put her hand on his shoulder. "It'll be at the same time as the other training in the group. You won't miss anything."

"But, training?" Toki gagged on the word 'training'.

"Yes. A crash course in how to work electronics and repair mobile suits. Is that understood?" Lady Une stated.

"Yes ma'am." Toki hesitated and didn't make another sound.

"Preventor Lumin, here, will be your superior, and what she says goes. Is that understood?" Alex and Toki nodded. "Good. As for you Snow, your job is going to be special."

"Special? What do you mean by special?" Alex sat straight up.

"You will be the primary agent on the ground and in mobile suit combat."

"Oh... what?" Alex said with shock and leaned forward in his seat.

"In this team, you are the primary agent that will accomplish the missions given to your team. Lumin will be backing you up, though."

"Ok. No offense to Lumin, but why aren't I the leader then?" Alex pointed at himself when he said 'leader'.

"Two reasons. One, Lumin has had three months worth of experience that you don't have. Secondly, the leader of this team may occasionally have to go public from time to time. Snow, you aren't supposed to be alive, nor do you exist in Preventor databases. It wouldn't go over very well with the Administrative Board, if they find out that you are alive."

"Understood Colonel. Sorry for my indesgression. Another thing, why have me as an active agent on a team where I could be seen by anyone at anytime?"

"We'll call it a figment of their imagination. There will be only one agent at location on paper, which is Lumin, so you'll be written off as a mirage."

"Oh... ok." Alex turned his seat away from Lady Une. 'Great. I should have stayed in that coma.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An hour later, Alex, Hilde, and Toki walked down a hall in the New Edwards base as they headed toward the dormitories. Alex had his hands in his khaki's pockets and his eyes firmly fixed further down the hall. Toki walked behind Alex with a cheerful expression on his face. Hilde was along side of Alex as they went through the hall.

"I can't believe it." Toki cried in joy. "I'm going to get my laptop back. My baby, my pride and joy, will be back with me again. Isn't that great news?"

Alex stayed silent at Toki's words as he continued down the hall. Hilde turned to face Toki and shook her head in agreement.

"You can only use it with my authorization. You know that right?"

"Yes."

"Well, I don't care what you use it for. Just don't hack into another Preventor Computer again, got that?"

"Yes ma'am." The smile on Toki's face widened from the thought of having his laptop back. A little ways down the hall, he caught sight of the room that had the same number as the cardkey given to him. Toki stopped and took out his cardkey. "I'll see you guys later. I'm going to get some rest."

"Cya." Hilde waved at Toki as he entered his room. "Alright, Alex. What was with you back there?" She looked back at Alex with a critical eye.

Alex continued to walk and didn't respond to her.

"Answer me. Damn it." Hilde grabbed Alex's right arm and brought him to a halt. He looked at her with a glare. "Well?"

"It was what you said." Hilde had a confused face at his words. "You implied that I had stared at you for another reason than I told."

"You did."

"The reason I gave was the real McCoy. I seriously didn't expect to see you again. How was I supposed to act?"

"I expected you to act like a rational adult about it. Not like a child."

"A child?"

"Yes a 'child'." Hilde forced Alex's body to completely face her. "You didn't think about what to say. You just said something out of impulse. Much like a child would."

"Did I?" Alex raised his tone of voice. "Well, then. How about we settle in a combat simulator?"

"No. You have the advantage in that." Hilde brought out a little cheerful smile. "Besides, wouldn't you rather use your own hands for once?" A little smirk came out of the cheerful smile. She knew she had him.

"Sure." Alex hesitated and then said. "Where and when do you want this fight?"

"The gymnasium in the martial arts section and in two hours." Hilde held up two of fingers on her right hand.

"Why not now?"

"I need to take a shower to get this grim off me." She combed her left hand through her dark blue hair.

"Gotcha."

"Speaking of which, you need one too." Hilde pointed at him. "You are pretty ripe."

"Right. I forgot about that." Alex dashed off toward the nearest locker room.

Hilde stood still as she watched Alex run off. 'This is the first step in helping him get over his past. I just hope that I don't hurt him in the process. Not too much, anyway.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alex took a step onto a typical gymnastics mat. He tugged at his clothes a little bit, and felt kind of out of place with them on. The clothes were a pair of gi; the same clothes that people in karate use. The area that Alex saw around him was a sealed off section of the gymnasium at New Edwards base. Wasn't much more than a boxed in section, but it was sound proof. Alex looked at his opponent on the mat. Hilde stood still as Alex took his steps on the mat.

"I see you came."

"Why wouldn't I?"

Hilde shrugged. "No reason."

'What was that about?' Alex put the thought the aside and took a deep breath. "So, are you ready?"

"As ready as you are." Hilde got into a relaxed position with her arms raised a little bit up.

Alex observed her stance, which had him confused. He had taken some martial arts courses when he was a child, if he remembered correctly he had failed them miserably. From the knowledge he had briefly gotten from those courses, he expected something around the lines of an offensive or defensive stance; she hadn't used either.

"Are you going to attack, or shall I?"

"I'll let you attack. Just to make things fair."

Alex looked at her funny again. He got himself into an offensive position and was prime for an attack.

'Letting me go first? Am I missing something here?'

Alex ran a short distance and threw a punch to Hilde's stomach. Hilde leaned to one side and Alex's punch missed her.

'What! It missed!'

Hilde quickly grabbed Alex's arm and forcefully spun the arm. Alex flew in the air for a moment and crash landed on his back. His legs landed in a sit-up position and his left arm fell limp on the ground. Alex's eyes had the expression of pain in them. Hilde let go of Alex's right arm and smacked her hands together, like a victory had been obtained.

"What do you have to say for yourself? An apology will be greatly appreciated."

"I have no apologies." Alex said each word with pain and laid still. "I did make an observation, though. I realized that the painkillers have worn off."

Hilde looked down at Alex more thoroughly and saw he was in pain. She had forgotten about the scars on his back, and almost smacked herself over the head for it. Hilde crouched down next to Alex's head.

"You alright?"

"Just dandy..." Alex tried to lift up a leg but it fell to the ground.

"I'm sorry about this. I just wanted to show who is in charge here."

"Message received..."

"Good. Then, you won't question my authority again?"

"I wasn't really trying to question your authority... I just was upset at what you said... Nothing else... really..."

"You might be saying the truth, but…"

"What are you going to say?"

"Nevermind, I'll talk about that some other time." Hilde walked over to Alex's right side and lowered a hand. "Want some help getting back up?"

"Yes..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alex sat in a leather armchair in a small lounge. He stared at a glass of water in his hands and slowly raised it to his mouth. He glanced in front of him and saw Hilde in an armchair. Her empty glass sat on a small wooden table next to the chair.

"Lumin, what do you think of this plan that the Colonel has come up with?"

"Do you question it, Snow?"

"I just asked for your opinion."

"Well, I think it's a good idea. What about you?"

"I don't think the idea is bad. It's the cover story I'm worried about. Does she really think that people won't catch on?"

'She knows all too well, Alex. It's a shame I can't tell you the real reason.' Hilde decided to answer his question. "You never know."

"People should know better, don't they?"

"Only time will tell."

Alex shook his head and got up as he took one final gulp of the water. He walked up to the door of the lounge.

"I'm off to get some sleep. See you later."

--Author's Notes--

Alright, my motivation has been shot to hell.

Forgive me if I misspelled the name of the karate clothes.

Cya around.